


Catra of the Great Rebellion

by Runeless



Series: Catra of Brightmoon [2]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe- Catra is She-Ra, Catra of Brightmoon, Catra of the Great Rebellion, F/F, F/M, Great Rebellion, M/M, Perspective Flip, Princess Alliance, Season 2, She-Ra of Brightmoon, She-Ra of the Princess Alliance, alignment flip, but without replacing their personalities, catra is she-ra, evil!Adora, good!Catra, keeping them IC as best I can, or at least, sequel fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-07
Updated: 2019-11-07
Packaged: 2021-01-24 13:54:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21339313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Runeless/pseuds/Runeless
Summary: Catra, once of the Horde, now Catra of Brightmoon, seeks to master her powers as She-Ra, as Force Captain Adora searches desperately for the edge that will let her overcome Catra and claim victory in their battle.  The Great Rebellion begins again, and the Horde and the Princess Alliance are set at odds with one another.And looming over everything are the secrets that neither the hero nor the villain of this story know anything about, that will determine the fate of all Etheria.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), George/Lance (She-Ra), Mermista/Sea Hawk (She-Ra)
Series: Catra of Brightmoon [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1538323
Comments: 21
Kudos: 180





	Catra of the Great Rebellion

Catra of the Great Rebellion

Season 2

The successful defense of Brightmoon relights every fire in Etheria; the dead candles of the free nations are set alight, and their Princesses take them up, a vigil to protect their world.

The Great Rebellion, once crushed, is rejuvenated, and Catra as She-Ra presides not over the final death at Brightmoon of the Alliance, but of its rebirth, her power leading the way. In a dozen taverns across the free nations, stories of her heroism are spread, cheers and shouts go up in her name, and a few soldiers, who once abandoned the Rebellion, feel the fire ignite and, phoenix-like, return to their posts, returning to the most ancient task of sentient beings- the defense of freedom against those who would destroy it.

Thus Catra of Brightmoon, She-Ra of Brightmoon, who once upon a time was merely Shadow Weaver's disfavored daughter, Adora's tag-along, and uncared for by her fellow Horde, becomes Catra of the Great Rebellion, She-Ra of the Princess Alliance, and sits at the War Council alongside the other Princesses, at the right hand of Queen Angella, and is held in high esteem as the savior of Brightmoon.

The flags are unfurled, and the storied horizon sings its promise to a new generation- it is time to be free.

-

The Woods are still frozen, and that means they need to be defended from the endless waves of Entrapta's bots. Actual Hordesmen are rare on the ground these days, though; Catra sees none of her fellow trainees, and none of the actual rank and file soldiers either. Just bots, bots, and more bots. Catra's not totally sure why; it's not a particularly inspired plan, and seems almost off-hand, the kind of thing that someone grown lazy with victory might try- or that someone might try while pursuing other goals, a hail-mary to either cover up another plan or to at least keep pressure on the Princess Alliance and their Great Rebellion while other work is done.

It makes her paranoid, makes her wonder what Hordak and Adora are planning; but with no evidence to go on and no leads, she must settle for training in the meantime, trusting in the Alliance to hold the Forest while she's gone and helping out whenever she's not training.

And so Catra trains, and hoo boy, Light Hope. Light Hope's a mess. A girl with no experience with trickery, one painfully straight-forward, might have a harder time dealing with the AI, might not see the rather obvious tricks and brute-force manipulation the AI knows.

But Catra, whose first meat and drink will always be manipulation, regardless of which side she's on, feels... sorry, for the hologram. Light Hope's not entirely a person, but it feels like she _should _be, and Catra idly wonders if Bow can figure out how to complete her. Light Hope is a transparent thing, and not just because Catra can see the wall through her.

This is most clear when it comes Light Hope's choice of opponents. When the not-person shifts her foes into Adora, Catra knows what Light Hope's getting at.

And she ignores it. Adora can still be saved. All Catra had to do was get her away from Shadow Weaver. It wasn't like Adora was doing all her evil on purpose, right?

And for that matter, what to do about Shadow Weaver? She's sent letters to Castaspella, asking about that statue she saw, and Glimmer's aunt has responded. Talks of a woman who once cast a forbidden spell... talks of what that spell did to a woman once known as Light Spinner. A hope- that most painful and powerful of things- springs up in Catra's chest like a spike of sunlight.

Shadow Weaver is corrupted by her spell, by the thing that entered her... Catra wonders if she might be saved. If she could, somehow, pull Light Spinner alive out of Shadow Weaver.

Quietly- she does not let herself know that she asks this question- she wonders if Light Spinner might be the mother she has always wanted. Queen Angella is so warm, so alive, her favor is a precious gift that Catra will cherish for all time; but Catra feels as if she is stealing Glimmer's mother from her, she feels as if... as if there is only so much maternal affection to go around, and Glimmer is her friend, too. She cannot simply leech off of Glimmer's mother forever. If Light Spinner is innocent of Shadow Weaver's wrongdoings... then maybe her mother will love her at last.

It is a miracle she cannot help but hope for, in the face of all evidence to the contrary...

Castaspella warns her, that even when she was still Light Spinner she cast the spell, made the _choice_ to cast that spell, and Catra, who is what she is _because _of a choice, knows the value of that... but the hope is still there, springing eternal.

The war in the Forest continues as it has- robots getting destroyed, Princesses doing their thing. The Princess Alliance- this great rebellion- fights differently than the Horde, Catra can't help but notice, comparing and contrasting her former abode with her new home. Few soldiers in the Alliance, and Brightmoon supplies well over half of them; it's mostly Princesses, power concentrated in a few powerful soldiers with the backup of scattered militias, rather than the fairly undifferentiated troops of the Horde.

At least they're working on getting an overall strategy together, as the first War Room meeting of the new Alliance proves. It's good to see everyone, even if Angella spends half of it sniping at Castaspella; apparently even Angella has her flaws, though Catra would never speak ill of her Queen.

( Not after dying for her. Not after getting that small, sad smile in return.)

Catra feels vaguely sick even thinking thoughts that might be negative of Angella at all, and so she tries to refocus on the meeting. Which is hard, because the meeting bores Catra, who likes action, who likes getting stuck in, and who belatedly realizes during the meeting that she is useless at grand strategy. She's smart and a dab hand at spur of the moment plans, what she's heard others call tactics, but this... bigger picture stuff eludes her. For example, Thaymor is retaken. How is that useful? What does Thaymor produce, what area does it defend? Is it even worth owning? How many times have they lost it, to describe reclaiming it as an “again” event?

Hell if Catra knows. She amuses herself in the meeting by high-fiving Mermista for stealing Perfuma's chair, and only pays attention when Bow- who Catra appreciates as the most level-headed of the Best Friend Trio- stands and makes a request. She backs him up, because he's her friend, and that's what you do- you back up your friends. That's what a Princess would do, and Catra will be the best of them.

Though, in fairness, Bow's suggestion has merit beyond her own personal loyalty to him. The only part of strategy Catra gets is, ironically, the biggest picture of them all: she gets the differences, the distinction, between the Alliance and the Horde. The Alliance is too reliant on what amounts to an almost literal handful of troops; admittedly each Princess is incredibly powerful, but there are only so many of them. It's a sword with an edge sharper than anything the Horde has, but the blade is brittle; even a single loss would spell doom for the Alliance as a whole.

If the Horde is a brutish hammer, the Alliance is a stiletto dagger. They need something to stop all these robots from wearing down the edge.

Angella agrees, and following the wise Queen's advice, they've got a plan.

Glimmer's dismissal of Frosta, though... there's something a little too familiar in that, and Catra ponders what to do about it as they leave the meeting.

-

Adora finishes her reports, stretches her arms, and sighs. The Horde was a vast machine, and paperwork was the oil that greased all the gears; bureaucracy, the Horde's great advantage over the princesses and their Great Rebellion. Fury and righteousness on their side, but that's meaningless when well-equipped, well-fed, and well-trained troops, who well-outnumbered them, attacked.

The Alliance is a dagger, but the force is all concentrated on the tip; the Horde is a sledgehammer, and Adora intends to smash them to pieces.

The task takes up all her time, and she throws herself into it with gusto. Projects line her journal, each a step in her final triumph. Improving Horde efficiency is step one, because it is how she'll convince Hordak to keep her as second in command; already she's taken over all of Shadow Weaver's old tasks, and her mother- as she must admit to herself in private- raised her to take over her job very well. Even if nothing else about her childhood was done right, Shadow Weaver raised a _fine _second-in-command for Hordak.

Step two is proceeding nicely, thanks to Shadow Weaver's spellbook, and an unexpected present- she'd kept a training primer, signed in the back. “ To my favorite student, Micah. Light Spinner.”

Whoever he was- and something about that name bugs Adora, she's _sure _she's heard it before- and whoever this Light Spinner was, one of them was important enough that Shadow Weaver has kept the training primer. A trophy, Adora assumes, her victory over some other mage; maybe Light Spinner was an old foe of Shadow Weaver's, or maybe this Micah was someone she killed, long ago.

Regardless, it is thanks to that piece of nostalgia, for whatever reason Shadow Weaver kept it, that Adora is going to get one more lesson out of her mother: magic.

She's almost giddy with the thought. _Magic_. The great equalizer between her and Catra; a weapon for her, to match the sword. _Magic_. She can already do a few little things, things the book claimed would take much longer to learn; Adora was born to power, it seems, is a natural prodigy at this work.

But that's a slow and careful process. Breaking in to Shadow Weaver's most defended treasures took two months of careful work, alternating between subtle approaches and brute forcing it with Entrapta's robots; learning magic will be even more fraught with danger, and Adora is taking it slow. A few patterns of light in her hands is all she's managed so far, but she has no doubt she'll master it, in time.

Step Three: form a squad to take down She-Ra. She tapped it with her pen. That was what she had to focus on right now; see who could be formed up as her own little opposition to Catra.

Other Cadets, not Scorpia or Entrapta- Adora cannot stand to be near Scorpia, it hurts to see her, physically hurts, all that sweetness and innocence on the big woman feels like a sword in her heart. Feels like a memory of how-it-used-to-be, feels like... like the _old _her.

(Has it only been a few months? It feels like years, decades, centuries, a lifetime. A different Adora, who laughed and played with Catra, who took comfort in her presence, who was not... not this.)

Entrapta, meanwhile, is simply too chaotic to be trusted, to be _controlled_, and Adora would prefer a squad listening to her. It's not _her _victory if her squad disobeys orders, after all, even if they achieve victory, and to be the perfect enemy of Catra, to be the villain she is, she must be in command.

Speaking of which, she should see how training is going, see how heavy this mighty hammer she's making should be, and scout for potential candidates. She's pretty sure she knows who's going in the squad, but just to make sure...

She stands up and heads out. Scorpia and Entrapta she'd sent to report to Hordak, who had asked for a Force Captain to update him. Hordak needed to be appeased, at the moment, but Adora needed to oversee more important things, like the troop training. The robots won't be enough, she knows that already. Catra will come up with something to stop the robots- or have Bow do it, he's a tech genius. Not as smart as Entrapta, but more focused; a good counterpoint, a good counterpunch, grounded practice to Entrapta's revelry brilliance.

But a squad trained to exacting standards... now that might give Catra pause.

( And, somewhere inside, where she does not let herself know what she wants, Adora wants... wants to reach out to someone. She is so scared, and so alone, inside all this confidence, all this deliberate play-acting of a great soldier. The other cadets are the closest thing to kin she has left, she... she is desperate, to belong once more, to have someone to rely on.)

The training room is full of war cries, and Adora hears them long before she reaches it. One stands out as Adora enters. Kyle's howl, as Lonnie manages to punch him halfway across the room when he flinches just before he strikes. Kyle, who is alive for reasons that nobody can figure out. Catra used to joke that Kyle was around because Hordak thought his failings were funny...

( She strangles that thought. Don't dwell on the past.)

“ Force Captain on site,” she announces, in a clear, calm, _powerful _voice. Not all Shadow Weaver's lessons have failed her. The recruits line up, even Kyle, who is still nursing what is probably a broken rib.

“ Ma'am,” comes the salute.

“ At ease,” she commands. “ Soldiers, we all saw Kyle take that blow. What was Kyle's mistake?”

Lonnie, who is the only recruit who ever seriously competed with Adora and Catra, speaks up first.

“ Where do you want me to start?” Lonnie snorts. Adora tuts disapprovingly.

“ No one improves all at once,” Adora gently chides her. “ He _flinched. _You cannot flinch. It is the most important lesson you will ever know- _no flinching. _If Kyle had carried through, you wouldn't have been able to punch him.”

The recruits side-eye her- she was training with them not a few months ago, what's she doing acting like this?- but Adora ignores it. Half of command is acting like you have it, and soon enough they'll forget she was ever one of them. Just another thing Shadow Weaver taught her.

( So many of Shadow Weaver's lessons over the years have stayed with her... she should have known. She was _always _destined to be a monster. She is what her mother made her to be- she is not like Catra. To rebel can be a heroic act, in this land of law and order to be criminal and chaotic might be the purest heroic act imaginable, and Catra has left her alone and afraid and a monster...)

“ Now, Kyle,” Adora announces, “ come with me, we'll get that rib tended.”

“ Err, okay, Force Captain,” he says, and she supports him, half-carries him to the infirmary.

“ Sorry,” he says, and Adora shakes her head.

“ No need. It's training, things happen. I think you've got great potential, Kyle- potential that just hasn't been nurtured properly.”

Kyle's face lights up with joy- no one ever encourages him, no one _cares _about him- and Adora smiles back at him.

It feels like connection, and she relishes that imagined warmth, just for a second.

-

The regenerating robots were a bit much, Catra has to say. Things should stay down when she hits them.

She's proud of Glimmer, though, who didn't even need to be yelled at to figure out that she was treating Frosta wrong; Catra's proud of her for that, proud that Glimmer is self-aware enough to recognize her own behavior in others and take steps to fix them. Another side-effect of the small size of the Rebellion is that interpersonal relationships _matter_; Catra gets that, she's always held people above ideals.

(She gets the attraction of ideals- and of happiness, that terrible sweetness, for which she has changed sides, turned her coat, for which she has given even her life- but in her heart of hearts, she will always care about people first.)

Catra herself tries to take on a mentor role for the youngest Princess, who is much less imposing off of her throne, who seems a bit... vulnerable, in a way Catra remembers from her own insecure youth. She kind of likes Frosta, or at least, she wants to keep her safe, which is a feeling she's never had before. Almost... maternal, she supposes. Or something like a big sister.

It fails, mostly because Catra has no idea how to be that kind of person, and because Frosta thinks Glimmer is the coolest person in the world and has no time for anyone else; but it also succeeds, just a little bit, because Catra is genuinely trying, and Frosta appreciates the kind sentiment. Frosta states that Catra is the third-coolest princess behind Glimmer and Frosta herself, and Catra, who has so little experience with other people and the awkward, beautiful bond called friendship, calls it victory enough, as they sit back in Brightmoon and she tends a cut on Frosta's hand. All around her, the Princesses treat each other's wounds, talk, and smile; victory, and at little cost.

Catra purrs, just a little, as she sits in that room and shares in the warmth of her fellow Princesses. She's still awkward, still liable to bite the hands reached out to her- but now she also might take them, too, and she's getting better control of herself every day.

She'll work it out, in time. She's got friends to shave off her rough edges, now, to yell at her when she's wrong and celebrate with her when she's right, to help her fit into the shape of a better person; she's not alone anymore. Mermista, Perfuma, Frosta, Glitter, Bow... more than she had in the Fright Zone, at any rate, where she had Adora alone.

That is the one dark spot on this bright evening: Adora. She wishes Adora were here to see this, wishes Adora were here- she'd like Perfuma, the two have a similar nature, though Perfuma likes fighting more than Adora ever did, is like Catra in her general cheerful relish of combat. Adora was more like Mermista, who viewed fighting as a chore, if one she happened to be good at; they'd... they'd all like Adora, Catra thinks.

And Adora, she'd like them, Catra's sure. Adora always got on better with other people than Catra did, and even Catra's managed to befriend the Princesses.

Adora'd fit right in.

Afterwards, in the debriefing, which Catra does her best to be interested in, Bow confirms Catra's fears- these are Entrapta's robots. Entrapta, left behind in the great assault on the Fright Zone that saved Glimmer and Bow- who had not died, that night when Catra made her choice, and threw off all her past to embrace her new home.

Catra must rescue her now, pull her alive out of the place of her birth. That'll take a plan, that's for sure.

But she'll do it. She'll save Entrapta, the same way she'll save Adora, someday.

( And inside, a little voice-_ Maybe I can save Light Spinner too, maybe I can pull a real mother out of the monster that raised me, and my mother will love me the way she was always supposed to..._)

-

Catra wonders what the hell Mara did to break the watchtower like this. It's just... floating here.

She's out here because she needs to fix the thing. Training with Light Hope stopped because of a flaw in the not-quite-a-person's systems- something about receptors and receivers and more stuff Bow would probably understand, but that to Catra is just rambling gibberish.

Still, “go fix this thing” is a command she understands, so off she and Swift Wind went, to work on the tower and their bond both.

So now, Catra just... needs to figure out what she's supposed to do next. No pressure... or at least, just a little pressure.

Swift Wind cocks his head at her.

“ You're super calm,” he says, but with an inflection that makes the statement almost a question. “ I figured- I mean, fixing this tower, which we don't know how to do, and which we gotta do- that's a lot of pressure, ya know?”

Catra smiles sardonically at that.

“ I'm used to that,” she says, and amuses herself imagining the horse's reaction if she just told him the truth- told him that the woman who raised her threatened to kill her, over and over again, hurt her and choked her and did things with shadows that left Catra terribly bruised. She never would- these are things she cannot talk about with anyone- but it's funny to _imagine _his reactions.

So the watchtower is a little pressure, but nothing like the horrific weight she has already lifted off her shoulders. Catra's away from Shadow Weaver, and the fear of cold words and colder eyes. This work she is doing is so much... _easier _than anything in the Horde ever was, so much simpler. Not because the tasks are less complex, but because she has more motivation to do them, more _reason_, she _wants _to do these things... so even with the stakes involved, she's 'super calm,' to quote the horse.

So they just try stuff til it sticks. She even tries loop-de-loops on Swift Wind's back, which are... amazing, actually. Flying's pretty great. Swimming sucks, but flying's great, and during one laughing loop de loop, as she cheers Swift Wind on and his powerful wings send them into a magnificent spiral, their bond becomes a thing alive and shining between them and heals the watchtower.

She cheers along with Swift Wind, who is actually really cool, once she gets to know him. Only his singing habit annoys her- it's the one Princess habit she refuses to pick up. Even the Best Princess has to have _some _standards, after all.

Still, despite that he has a fascination with his own voice and singing talent rivaled only by Seahawk, Swift Wind really is the noble steed he thinks he is, he really _is _an amazing companion and as Catra leaves the field on his back, seeing all Etheria laid out beneath them under the beautiful light, she thinks that this has been one of the best days of her life.

( There may yet be more days like this, in the future. There's nothing saying there will be- but there _might _be, and she finds even the chance of it so impossibly precious that she knows, in her bones she _knows_, that she made the right choice, all those months ago. In the belly of the Fright Zone, before her tormentor, she made the right choice; this is merely part of her reward, that she can have a day like this, and know that more days like it might be coming in the future.)

The memory of the day slots, sacred and golden, into Catra's mind, and her smile is bright and cheerful when she reports back to Light Hope.

-

Light Hope ponders, as Catra leaves, laughing, with her steed.

Catra is... not a First One. She is not a First One, but a Magic- no, code corrupted, she knows not what she was going to say, what she was going to think. Magi.... no, no, a word on the tip of her programming, that eludes her even as she chases it.

She is... there is something _wrong _with her, something wrong in her reformatting.

(11010111101**MARA**0101101010)

Her reformatting slams down, murdering the chunk of dissident code, the rebellious numbers that made up a word.

(101010**notaword**010101010**aname**101000001**hernamewas**101010101001)

Light Hope paused. What was she thinking about? When her reformatting had to help fix her, it always interrupted her train of thought.

Oh, yes. Pondering if Catra can be useful in her function. Catra is She-Ra, but she is not a First One; Light Hope wonders if she will be able to do what needs to be done. She supposed that, if the sword was still with her, then She-Ra's power was still able to be... channeled.

It would have to do.

(101001001**flowersandafeelingofwarmth**01010101010)

(**MARA**)

-

While Catra is away, the Best Friends will play, Adora muses... or, at least, get involved in a kidnapping.

Adora is captured by Bow and Glimmer; sheer bad luck on her part. The two jump her and overwhelm her with glitter and traps and... they want Entrapta back? And are also apparently intent on walking her all the way to Brightmoon.

Adora feels embarrassment at being caught, mostly. Some great rival of Catra's is she, to get caught by two rebels- just two! Seriously, has no one in the Alliance heard of moving in groups? Two people. Just two, only one a Princess, and the weakest Princess, at that!

...Which had proven enough to subdue her. Ugh. Without her suit, she's defenseless, no more important than any other Horde goon.

She'll have to step up her magic training. She _has _to have another edge. She can't afford to be caught out like this, she... she won't let herself lose to anyone but Catra. Catra's the hero, and Adora's the villain; she won't be beaten by a pair of _sidekicks_.

( Catra has a right to kill her, her traitorous heart weeps, she has done so much wrong to her... but not this duo. Not them. Only Catra.)

So Adora hassles them the entire time. Falls off a cliff twice. Stumbles. At one point manages to bite Bow. _Never _stops talking. Their annoyance is great, deeply entertaining to Adora's newfound sense of sadism, and Adora's sure an opportunity will arise to get free.

(Only one time does the Best Friend Squad get to lash out at their tormenting prisoner, but it's a doozy. After one particularly infuriating incident, Glimmer makes a throw-away comment that lands like a bomb in Adora's heart- “ Catra must have been fleeing _you_.” For just a second, Adora's eyes sting with tears, and she is quiet for a moment before she returns to her banter.)

Adora wonders if anyone's tracking her Force Captain badge. She hopes it's Lonnie, but she'll honestly take even Scorpia, she's not picky at this point.

And when they do finally arrive- not just her own squad, but Scorpia too- Adora gets to pay Glimmer back in full for her words, and show her and Bow Entrapta's true allegiance. Bow she's not too concerned about- but Glimmer _hurt _her, and Adora loves revenge, it is all she has left.

The fight afterwards is short, but sweet, no matter that Glimmer gives her a black eye. She's free, and able to return home at day's end, and make ready for her next assault.

-

After her good day, Catra finds there is more work to be done for her new home, and she takes to the next task the Queen assigns her with cheerful gusto. The Queen favors her with her small, sad smile, and Catra's tail lashes happily without her notice, as she stands ready to move mountains, should her Queen ask it of her.

( Catra doesn't know it, but there is a running joke among the guards that Catra has the _worst _crush on the Queen, the common soldier's assumption as to _why _Catra is so eager to please her. Only the scar-nosed general guesses the truth of it in private: that Catra has never had an authority figure who rewarded her before, and that Catra's boundless loyalty stems not from lust but from a need for a mother who cared. Queen Angella's wise and fair command is the closest thing to that affection Catra has ever received, and to gain that reward she would go through hell with a smile.)

Angella doesn't need a mountain moved, but a farm found; Alwyn needs resettling. It's a farming community vital to the Rebellion- least, that's what Catra's told by the Queen. Again, bad at grand strategy.

Still, the Queen told her to go, so off she goes, no questions asked. The area's spooky, and Glimmer and Bow's nervousness remind her of how she'd hassle Adora back at the Fright Zone with evil princess stories. She tells those same stories gleefully to her compatriots, panicking Glimmer- which is hilarious to see, the aggressive, boisterous little battler scared out of her wits by just a few words. Catra, who has already seen worse in her own life, who does not fear any goblins or bogeyman, just laughs, delighted by their terror.

( There had never been a monster under her bed, after all, because the monster was busy raising her. It makes one immune to certain fears.)

Bow points out the obvious political aspect once he gets over his jitters, and Catra nods and agrees- that was part of how she'd figured it out, all those years ago. The Horde was bad at subtlety.

She points that out when the duo start to talk of Entrapta again, reminds them of Shadow Weaver and the cold fingers at one's temple, that Shadow Weaver has always been able to just scramble your brains until what she wants out of you floats to the top. Shadow Weaver, who she is _sure _is abusing Entrapta, no matter how much Bow and Glimmer believe that the purple-haired technician is their enemy of her own free will now.

Once the ghosts show up, that discussion gets tabled. Most stuff except survival gets put away, and even Catra gets spooked by these strange figures in the fog. Still, she's used to being afraid and functioning anyway, and she keeps the others focused through their fear, keeps them on task with her support. It lets Bow use that vast intellect to figure out the trouble, and Catra slaps him on the back once he pieces together what's going on.

“ What in the world do we need Entrapta for, anyway?” Catra says with a laugh. “ We've got Bow!”

Glimmer cheers, and Bow is all blushes at that. Bow, who has no idea how valuable he is, for some reason. Catra wonders why, what had happened to him, that he does not see how skilled he is, that he is the most valuable of their group in some ways- the one person who can work out how the tech works. He solves the puzzle, and they realize that they stand in a field of holograms, the ghosts just messages the First Ones never got to send.

Seeing the First Ones as they truly were, well... it's... interesting. The First Ones were just... people. Ordinary people. Catra has never believed in anything greater, but the First Ones and the sword they gifted her... they had always felt like... more.

But they were just people. People with lives and families.

It makes Catra wonder what the Sword _means_, and what being chosen by it is worth, if it was made just by... people. Catra's never got on much with people before.

( Something in the back of her head whispers _it was not just the sword that chose you_... but she dismisses what she, erroneously, believes to be her own thought.)

Still pondering that truth, she looks at her three friends that night at camp, as they sleep- Bow curled up around his arrows, Swift Wind a passed out lunk, Glimmer gently snoring. Her friends, her _best _friends... who have brought the terrible sweetness of _happiness _to her, a beautiful poison that so many _people _have brought into her life, these days. Guards at Brightmoon who are delighted to see her, cooks who compete to feed her favorite dishes, nobles honored to be in her presence... the way Queen Angella holds her in high and affectionate regard, that closes up some terrible wound Catra has always carried, that is disinfecting a sickness inside her that has been killing her all her life.

If Brightmoon had been where she was born, if her home had been the place of her birth, too, she thinks she would not bear that wound at all. It would not exist, for the people of Brightmoon have been terribly kind to her, both before and after the spell, have favored her with fine food and fine beds and healing and protection.

People have done all this for her. Just people... but maybe “just people” was a lie you could tell in two words, as if people could only be just people. As if people weren't... weren't important, all by themselves.

Maybe people who were just people could still be worthy of choosing a hero, of making a blade like the Sword of Protection, and that being chosen by those people still meant a lot. Meant... everything.

The thought comforts Catra as she falls asleep, once Bow wakes to take over the night's watch.

-

“ Alright, look, the Horde's best and brightest- by which I mean Adora- is gonna be there, and she's tough, smart, and nearly killed me once. She's dangerous, and I don't want to see any of you get hurt.”

“ So let's make a plan.”

Somehow, that sentence had morphed into... the goofiest mess Catra has ever seen. Is she the _only_ serious person in the Alliance? Even Mermista had thrown in, making ridiculous stories up of a Sea-Ra, though the mermaid's contribution is accompanied by a look that tells Catra she's just bothering her for the sheer hell of it.

Catra is hypocrite enough to be mad as hell about that, giving her friend a glare that only makes Mermista's smug grin even bigger, and Catra wonders if this is her punishment for all the time she spent annoying Adora in this exact manner. Every time Catra exasperated Adora, this must have been exactly how the blonde felt.

That is a thought Catra will get to have often this day, as she discovers the terrible and frightening magic of _perspective_. The lesson begins when Glimmer starts talking and doesn't stop, as Catra gets to see Adora through their eyes.

Glimmer seems to think Adora's some kind of... sexpot, given her almost-lurid description of Adora during her detailing of her plan- a plan that is ridiculous, impractical, and worst of all, impossible, because Glimmer gives herself like a dozen more teleports than she can actually do. She also sidelines both Adora and Bow to turn herself into an action hero, though she describes it so awesomely that even Catra can't find it in her to be annoyed about _that _part.

No, it's the description of Adora as some seductress that finally drives Catra up the wall. As Glimmer keeps going, Catra finally asks in exasperation why Adora's so sexy in the pink princess' description, which makes Glimmer blush red as a tomato. Perfuma makes it worse by commenting that she thought Adora was hot, too, and the flower maiden shrugs when Catra gives her a Look.

( Catra carefully does not say that the image of Adora as this seductively-destructive force appeals to her. That's... that's a bit more than even her friends need to know, right now.)

Bow, meanwhile, sees Adora as a mustache-twirling villain- he literally says that, he claims she should have a mustache to twirl- and the image of Adora with a long curled mustache stays with Catra despite her own best efforts to forget it as she tries to convince Bow that this will not work like an adventure serial. Bow is... more accurate than Glimmer, given Adora's actions, but he cannot know the more complex person inside that Catra knows.

( _I'll save you_, she swears to Adora in her mind. _I'll save you._)

The others throw the entire meeting into chaos. Frosta just knows Adora as the girl who blew up her castle- fair, Catra has to admit- and the others give equally distorted views of Catra's best friend and... well, she's not sure. A lot of things to say, but a lot of things they've said, too, most of which are true. Would-be murderer. Villain. Love interest. If this was a story, describing her and Adora's relationship would be difficult, would have to have all these words, and might even be the central focus of the work.

But that's so complicated that she turns away from thinking on it and towards the practical part of the day- planning the attack. The princesses' suggestions are terrible; she's fairly certain that most of them can't actually _do _what they are proposing... though in all fairness, Catra has heard so many horror stories about the powers of the Princesses, and seen the Princesses do so much, that she can't be entirely sure. She just wishes that there was some sort of... _structure _to their efforts.

At day's end, Catra has to admit defeat in the face of these goofy, chaotic princesses, no matter that she wants to do this right for Queen Angella. Once more, perspective kicks her in the teeth as she considers, to her mounting horror, that now _she's _the responsible one. In the Horde, she was the most chaotic cadet, but now, when surrounded by all these born-and-bred rebels, it turns out that _Catra _is the most orderly Princess. Even what few rules Catra would like to have are too much for them.

Was this how Adora felt _all the time_?!?

They end up just winging it, to Catra's dismay, the only plan they can all agree on; still, as it turns out, they really _are _capable of most of what they say, and it propels them to victory, even as their attack more resembles the drunken swings of a bar brawl than the proper lines of a military assault.

At least the Horde outpost is surprisingly incompetent, though its commander, Scorpia (and not Adora, as it turned out), is no joke. She's so strong that she can overwhelm with sheer brute force even She-Ra's divine might... though the scorpion woman seems too interested in flirting with Catra to fight back properly, has apparently gotten a bit struck on her. While Scorpia's met Catra, this is the first time they've seriously interacted with each other, and it turns out that the big woman apparently has a bad, _bad _crush on her.

She even calls Catra, appreciatively, Wildcat, with a look in her eye that makes Catra both very nervous and kind of excited. Not a lot of people had ever wanted her before, and it's both new and rather strange, to be desired so openly... though she's not entirely sure Scorpia even knows what her own interest means, this is some of the most absurdly oblivious flirting Catra has ever seen. Not big on self-reflection, is this woman.

But still... it's nice. And if she's being honest, Catra returns the interest, just a little. Adora has the pride of place in her heart, always; but it's nice to be appreciated, and she doesn't mind giving the Force Captain a wink as a reward for her attentions, a wink that sets the big girl to blushing.

Scorpia even tosses Glimmer back onto land after dangling her over the wall for a moment, entirely because she doesn't like seeing Catra frown- which is good, because the big woman is a _frightening _opponent, even She-Ra's strength is not enough to overwhelm her. Catra has to rely on speed to beat the big woman, uses a hip throw to send her tumbling into the river safely when her mighty pincers block even the Sword of Protection.

Catra's glad Scorpia made it down there safely, looks over the wall to make sure she's alright- and the juggernaut is fine, of course, even waves at her, which Catra returns cheerfully. Strange as it was, Scorpia's open delight in her presence was pleasant, and she hopes she'll see her again, even if it's clear that Scorpia thinks she'll rejoin the Horde.

Though she did make a comment about Adora that bothers Catra- something about her being “scary.” Who would think that about Adora? Adora was a goofy sweetheart, not... not _scary_.

(A part of Catra flashes back to the Battle of Brightmoon, to a knife in her side... but she shakes it off. No. She won't... she won't think about that. That's not Adora.)

She asks the others what they think of her, and they all immediately begin talking about her crush on Catra, it was that obvious. Perfuma thinks its adorable, Frosta finds all such affection gross, Glimmer teases her a bit about it, but Mermista alone commiserates; she has a sweethearted dumb-ass after her, too, in Seahawk, one she kind of likes and kind of doesn't.

“ Our joint curse,” she says, and Catra can't help but laugh, which Mermista joins in with, her monotone amusement the cheerful salt on an amusing wound as Catra helps Perfuma raise the flag of rebellion over the outpost.

-

Kyle sat nervously in Adora's office. She was using an office much closer to the barracks; she'd debated moving into Shadow Weaver's office, but the place was crowded and cramped with occult items that Adora didn't truly want to deal with. Not until she understood them, until she'd figured out these books... though that was coming along so much _easier _than she'd thought it would. So much easier than the books said it should. A prodigy of magic she was, apparently...

Thank the First Ones.

( Later, she would think on that, and laugh the broken laugh of the lost... but that was for later.)

At any rate, her new office had a great big desk with a comfy chair that Adora was perched in, and in front of that desk were guest chairs- one of which Kyle was trembling in. She looked at him, having read the united reports of the rest of his squad, all of which blamed him for their loss.

“ I know you weren't responsible,” Adora says to him, and Kyle's face lights up with surprise. “ They blamed you, didn't they?”

He swallows nervously. Of course. Probably knows that trying to tell anyone will just make this worse. Adora gives him a sympathetic glance- and it truly _is _sympathetic, this is not one of Adora's many lies. Kyle has suffered for a number of years, with only Rogelio ever really giving him the time of day, and Lonnie protecting him sometimes, entirely despite herself.

But Adora... Adora had never really protected him, before. She... she should have done something, that would have been the right thing to do, but now she realizes why she never did. There's only two kinds of people in the world, the good and the evil, and she is evil, she has _always _been evil, she sees now. She'd been the Horde's true believer, after all, and look at what the Horde does, you cannot lie to yourself about evil when you have ordered the burning of villages and the death of innocents.

( That first town... _burn it to the ground_... a person can be haunted by their own words.)

It does not surprise Adora, when thinking of her past, that she'd done nothing for Kyle. Of course she hadn't. She hadn't done anything for him, the same way she'd never done anything for Catra, either; not when Shadow Weaver hurt her or when the other cadets mocked her.

Good... and evil. The only two things in all the world. And she has not done good things, so she must be... well. You shouldn't lie to yourself about such things, about what you are.

“ It's okay,” Adora said after waiting for him to speak, a chance he does not take, keeping her own tone light. “ It's alright, Kyle. I understand. We grew up together, after all.”

He gives Adora a nervous grin. “ Always knew you'd make it,” he said, chuckling. “ I was always kinda jealous of your talents... but I always knew you'd make Captain one day.”

“ Thank you, Kyle,” Adora said, smiling at him, even as she remembered hurt looks on his face and the bullying of others that she had laughed along with. To laugh at a victim is to take the side of the one who victimized them... and to stay silent is to do the same thing, without even the enjoyment of schadenfreude or sadism to excuse it.

She had never laughed at Catra's pain, but she had always stayed silent when Shadow Weaver hurt Catra. It is a... terrible thing, to admit to yourself that harm has been done, and you did nothing about it.

She's... she's always been a bad guy.

( Just a child, but she should have been _better_...)

“ I have a proposition for you,” she told Kyle. He perked up; he'd never been the one who got deals offered, or received non-negative attention from his superiors before, so he is, cautiously, excited.

“ What is it?” he asked nervously, the way any kicked dog will look at a piece of meat offered freely, knowing how often it is a trick but still so hungry that it must consider the chance that it is _not _a trick.

Kicked too many times; poor Kyle. Catra should have done something for Kyle, too, definitely... but current events show that Catra probably _would _have done something, if she'd had a chance. The second she was free of Shadow Weaver, Catra proved that her true nature was heroic, the way that Adora, away from her influence, had proven to be villainous... an amusing irony. Adora had always thought she was keeping Catra in line, but reviewing things now, she couldn't help but think that _Catra_ had been a good influence on _her_, not the other way around.

In her absence, after all, Adora has discovered... who she really was.

( This is not true, though Adora does not know it; but she has been raised all her life to believe in good and evil, with no room for nuance or distinction. Something is good or it is bad, she cannot conceive of any change from one to the other; so, knowing that she has burned innocent villages and Catra has saved them, she assumes that each has an essential nature, leaning one way... or the other. Binary systems are such harsh things.)

As it was, given how the other cadets treated her most of the time, Adora wasn't surprised she hadn't bothered to use her apparently heroic instincts to help. She'd have just been punished... or worse... by Shadow Weaver for such antics, anyway. Unlike Adora, who had never really feared being punished by the witch, and thus, had less excuse not to help.

But Adora could have gotten away with it. If she'd have tried. If it would have occurred to her.

“ S-so, what's gonna happen?” Kyle asks.

“ I'm going to 'punish' you,” Adora said, doing the universal hand gesture of quotation marks, wrenching her mind away from thoughts of morality and meaning and what she is, at heart. “ I'm assigning you, Lonnie and Rogelio together on a permanent 'punishment detail', that'll last for as long as I need it to. During that time, you three will be personally trained by me. I have something rather... special to teach you.”

Adora raised a hand, and sent her will out into the ether, hunting... hunting. A little glimmer of power... there.

A small symbol of light flared into being in her hands, a little diamond, the result of all her months-long efforts. Just a glimmer... but Kyle's reaction makes her feel all-powerful.

“ Whoa...” he says, eyes lit up at seeing the magic in her fingertips.

“ I need soldiers, Kyle,” Adora says to him, face lit in that ethereal glow. “ And I think that there's more to you than anyone suspects.”

That part is a lie. She knows that Kyle is exactly as incompetent as he seems. But warm bodies were so rare on the ground these days. It's either try to improve Kyle or try to actively recruit Scorpia and Entrapta, which sickens Adora to consider; she can't bring herself to do it. She doesn't mind having Entrapta build equipment for her, since using the resources at her command is just part of being a smart villain; but it will only _ever _be equipment she specifically requests, not some whim of Entrapta's mind.

She will not let the final confrontation between her and Catra be decided by an act of _chaos_. She has a sense of responsibility, towards her nature and her bond with Catra, that will not let her allow randomness to decide the contest.

So Kyle, Rogelio, and Lonnie it is, backed up by whatever equipment Adora can commission from Entrapta, against the horrifying might of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power.

It will have to be enough.

Kyle's face is still in awe as Adora pulls away from her thoughts and, with a snap of her fingers, dismisses her spell. The magic, even as she intensifies her studies, is just so much... _easier _than the books said it should be. The descriptions in the primer she's reading mention months of learning to do even simple things, but her magic comes to her almost naturally, almost... _eagerly_. The light jumps as if just waiting for her command. She vaguely remembers Shadow Weaver mentioning she was born for greatness... the sword, she'd assumed she'd meant, but maybe there was something more... something else about her, something more fundamental.

She pondered that... but there were no answers, and it was of no matter. She'll take all the luck she can get. No need to stare this gift horse in the mouth.

“ Not a word,” she tells Kyle. “ This is top-secret. What you just saw is a Horde secret, closely guarded. If I hear you say anything about it- and I will- then that's it, and you'll be assigned a _real _punishment detail for the rest of your life. You got that?”

He nods, eager. This is the first break he's ever had in his entire life, and he is determined not to screw it up. He keeps his mouth shut, and over the course of the next few weeks, as Adora trains her new squad personally, Kyle is able to stay quiet, even as the work intensifies.

But Adora still needs an edge, needs... _something _to put one over the power of the Princesses, so that she can face Catra on even terms again.

-

The Northern Reach is _so cold_. Catra shifts into She-Ra and stays that way, She-Ra's absurd constitution the only guard against the cold she has. Glimmer mocks her for it as Bow messes with his tracking pad- still busted after their trip to the ghost village- and Sea Hawk gives them a sob story about Mermista leaving him behind to hang out with other people.

Catra tells him that Mermista _does _like him, she just needs space, and that helps a little. It makes her feel good; she's the best Princess, after all, and she'll help anyone with anything, even relationship drama. That's what a Princess does, and Catra won't fail at it, won't let herself be anything _but _the best. She has to be, for Brightmoon, for Queen Angella, who believes in her so strongly.

You'd think it would put pressure on her, but truth be told, Catra relishes it. It's the first time in her life people have looked at her and expected great things, the first time she has ever heard her name spoken of in tones of awe and wonder; she would rather die than not meet those expectations. She will make the people and her Queen proud.

(Her mind almost says _my mother, _but she ignores that. That's a bridge too far. It is enough that Angella cares for her. It has to be.)

It feels... good, to know there are people expecting greatness out of her, whom everyone mocked, once upon a time. That her people are relieved to know she is out there somewhere, fighting the good fight for them, that they tell tales of her heroics and her adventures, make of her someone to believe in.

So she helps Seahawk and talks him through some of his concern, though she's not able to give too much advice. She's still awkward with people, too many years spent under Shadow Weaver leaving her with too many edges,, and the only relationship she's ever had being whatever it was her and Adora were and are to each other... but it helps, a little, when she tells Seahawk that if he knows he's cool, then he doesn't need anyone else to tell him so. It's advice Catra believes in, too, genuine, honest advice; she knew what it was like to have no one in your corner, to have to believe in yourself because no one else would.

( No one but Adora, anyway... but, as ever, Adora is the exception to all Catra's rules.)

The advice seems to settle the captain, and he sets off, confidence renewed, as he docks the boat and grabs some climbing gear. Catra grins at his back as she clambers off the boat into the snow, the wet crunch under her shoes feeling awkward on usually-bare feet; maybe she doesn't have too many edges after all. Maybe it'll do the Alliance some good to have someone as spiky as her in it; a thorn in your side can get you moving, after all.

Climbing up the snow- and that's cold, even through She-Ra's heightened physiology- they see the welcoming party that awaits them, Adora and Catra's former squad mates on a long bridge. Adora's bright smile is so welcoming that Catra forgets, just for a second, all the things that have happened between the skiff and now, forgets the huge armored suit Adora wears and the shield, behind which are both her hands- forgets the secret dagger and the blossoming pain in her side. Forgets everything except how beautiful Adora is.

“ Hey, Catra!” Adora says cheerfully. “ What brings you all the way out here?”

“ You, mostly,” Catra replies, sword down in her hands. “ What about you? What are you guys doing out here?”

“ Freezing, mostly,” Adora announces. “ You must _hate _this weather, you never did like the cold!”

“ It's awful,” Catra answers, with a grin. This felt... this felt easy. This felt familiar... she... she wanted to go back, to the days when this would not be done between enemies, when this would have just been a conversation and not a confrontation. Catra looks at her former squad. “ And you guys, how are you doing?”

“ Better than you are, traitor,” Lonnie says, the stun baton in her hand crackling, and the words throw a brick through the glass house of Catra's desires.

“ Hey now, we don't have to fight,” Bow says. “ Maybe we can talk this out. Catra's told us a lot about you, Adora; you're good people.”

“ She's Horde,” Kyle says, and he actually tries to sneer at them, though it mostly looks ridiculous on his face. It's still off, though, further shatter Catra's illusions; that's not... that's not the Kyle she remembers. He was always so scared, but now, he looks almost... not confident, but determined. Grim, almost. “ She wouldn't stoop to be a beggar chasing after a Princess.”

What the hell? When did _Kyle_ have those kind of guts? Rogelio growled in appreciation of Kyle's words, smirking at them.

“ Bow's right,” Catra said, hoping to cling on to some of the remnants of that warm feeling she'd had on seeing Adora again after all these months, stretch this moment out as long as she could. “ You can come with us, Adora.. all of you could come. You don't have to be part of the Horde. I mean, shit, they even accepted _me _in Brightmoon, obviously they'll take anybody. You can leave, get out of this freezing weather...”

Adora grinned at her again, but this time, the look was more predatory.

“ I mean, if you're feeling cold, we can always do some warm-ups,” Adora says brightly, and bum-rushes her.

The fight's fairly even, though Catra swears she hears Kyle- and why on earth would Adora bring Kyle to a serious fight?- complain about “cheating Princesses” after Glimmer telepunches him two or three times. Bow keeps Lonnie busy, while Glimmer and Rogelio have a thrown-down of brute force- and Adora, as always, keeps Catra occupied, heavy armor and snarling dog helm against She-Ra and the Sword.

Shortly into the fight, Adora slaps something red and alive to her sword.

Catra... doesn't remember much after that. Remembers _rage_, remembers howling fury, remembers the knowledge of being corrupted from _outside_...

She doesn't remember much of what happens after the Sword is knocked from her hand, either. There was blackness first... and then the... hallucinations. She remembers... something of Scorpia laughing at something ridiculous she'd done, and asking her why she liked Adora... and taking very good care of her, careful and respectful of distance, even throwing her off when Catra, drunk on whatever it is the First Ones' tech has done to her, tries to go for a kiss.

“ Wouldn't be right, Wildcat,” Scorpia said with a sigh. “ Cute as you are, you're... clearly pretty out of it. Maybe kiss me later, when you're not all... floppy.”

Scorpia's good people, Catra remembers thinking.

Then she'd tried to kiss her again. She thinks. It's hard to remember her actions when she's so... floppy. It's like being drunk but no hangover. She assumes, anyway, based on stories she's heard; she's never been drunk.

She wonders what else she missed, while she was... under.

-

Adora stared down at the unconscious Catra. Unconscious... under her control...

Could _this _be the victory she has been looking for? She is almost... disappointed. She'd built up their confrontation so much... but then again, she'd always beaten Catra in their simulated fights. Only by cheating had Catra ever evened the score... and what could the Sword be called, but cheating?

Yes... this... Catra under her control. Catra, back by her side, the way she should be... and no Shadow Weaver to hurt Catra, this time. Adora would be a kinder overlord. She'd be... she'd be good to her. She'd make it up to her, make up for all the things she hasn't done that she should have done. She's evil, but she can be good to Catra, she _will _be.

Yes... this could be worth it.

( When Scorpia saves them all by shattering the First One's tech, Adora grabs at the pieces of a life she might have lived- stares at the shattered remnants- and she openly assaults Scorpia on their return, stopped only by Entrapta, who Adora realizes, belatedly amidst her rage, that she still needs... but Scorpia is shaken by the attack, and sits as far from Adora as possible on their skiff.)

-

Upon their return- successful, despite... despite everything- Adora is called to Hordak. She goes, since the alternative is to sit and brood, staring at the pieces of the First One's technology that might have let her _win_, get her victory, and keep her Catra, all at once, the closest thing to a happy ending she can conceive.

She goes, and she is able to lie to herself hard enough that, when she stands before Hordak, she seems entirely confident.

“ Send Shadow Weaver to Beast Island,” Hordak commands. “ She is too dangerous to keep here in the Fright Zone.”

“ Your will be done, Hordak,” Adora replies with a bow. Hordak raises an eyebrow at that.

“ I must admit curiosity as to why she has not already been sent on,” Hordak said.

“ I did not want to make such a decision without your direct command, sir,” Adora replied easily. “ Shadow Weaver being my predecessor, I did not want to take such final action without your request.”

“ A wise decision,” Hordak said. “ But it is time to be done. Send her to Beast Island.”

Adora nodded and left, and Hordak mused over her as he returned to his work. Adora, from his perspective, had made an almost impossibly fine Force Captain; quiet, efficient, didn't bother him, and she handled the paperwork with aplomb. She'd even managed to return with what he needed to complete the portal,

It had given him time to focus on his own work- which, thanks to the interventions of Entrapta, is going well. Entrapta usually brings along Scorpia, too, and the two are becoming a... welcome distraction, he must admit. Both are capable, which is another thing he must admit- Entrapta with tech, Scorpia in battle, both are no burden on the Horde, but a boon- and he finds their presence somehow pleasant.

Something to focus on that isn't his failing body, or his brother's derision, at least.

( Love is such an insidious disease; empathy a virus that slips in to even the most occluded hearts.)

But as for Adora, he had no complaints, and no concerns. Shadow Weaver had raised a good Force Captain.

-

Adora signs the papers banishing Shadow Weaver with delight in her heart. No more fingers at her temples, no more fear, no more wondering what in her mind is her and what was born in the depths of that mask. Just her, and her alone, in her head, forever.

She was Shadow Weaver's favorite; and so she feels nothing on banishing her, except a sensation of freedom.

( The eternal irony of favoritism and abuse; the abused child ever seeks favor they will never receive, and the favored child finds the favor they have always had something they can do without. Familiarity and contempt, as they say.)

Adora does not know that Shadow Weaver made a last request- or that Scorpia fulfilled it- and so, instead of Beast Island, Shadow Weaver escapes.

Scorpia, terrified, tells no one, and Adora, suspecting nothing amiss, continues on.

And Shadow Weaver begins the long journey to Brightmoon.

-

Bow's dads are... it almost hurts, to talk to them. Even with the deception Bow has them foster... it is almost physically painful to be near them. They love him, she can tell that immediately; it is almost a physical force, their love, it makes the world around them _different_, somehow. Catra, who has never seen a functioning marriage before, has never known how much people could love each other, finds it even changes the smell of the place; the house is a blend of their scents, everything is a part of them and they are a a part of each other. This home is a testament not to an architect but to the happy couple at its heart, to their love, to the joy they have found in each other, to their _happiness_.

It is too much to bear, to see how he deceives them, and how afraid he is to tell them the truth; Catra gets that, in a bone-deep, inner guts kind of way, if she had someone like this- much less two someone's- she would do anything not to disappoint them. She had done so much for Shadow Weaver, who had never cared for her at all; if Catra had been the daughter of these two men, who care for their children so much, she could not imagine what she might do, what lies she might foster, if it meant they would never be disappointed in her.

So against Glimmer's advice, and her own nagging sense that, as the best princess, she shouldn't lie, Catra plays along, as hard as she can; manipulation is a talent that she's kept from her Horde days, and she's able to go along with Bow so well that both men believe her. Glimmer keeps almost screwing it up, lying not being a skill the straightforward brawler of a princess possesses, but Catra's able to spin that around, too.

The talk turns, eventually, to the Princesses, and George speaks of his own experiences, staring into the fire and seeing something only he can see. Catra feels a weird sense of... responsibility, hearing George talk about the failures of the first Princess Alliance. The Great Rebellion has failed some of its soldiers, and Catra is filled with a sense that it is her fault, somehow, that it failed because she was not there, even though this would have occurred long years ago, long before she ever got the sword.

So that's not her fault, despite her responsibilities now. That's _Mara's_ fault. Catra feels a surge of hatred for her predecessor, hearing George speak; but for Mara, this would not have to happen. But for Mara, George's village and people might have lived.

Catra will be better. She will make sure none of the new soldiers of the Alliance suffer his fate. She will be the _best _She-Ra.

( She's a bit distracted from the promise on learning that at least one She-Ra in the past had a dragon. Why the hell didn't _she _have a dragon? Swift Wind was great, but a _dragon!_ Come on!)

Getting dragged around by them as the Best Research Squad was fun... up until the monster attack. Catra briefly wonders if being She-Ra makes one a literal magnet for trouble. She cannot go _anywhere _without this bullshit.

Time comes finally that things must be said, truths spoken, and Catra worries for Bow, seeing the anger on George's face. She knows what's coming, moves to stand near Bow as he stands to speak truth to his fathers; she is, even now, afraid of parental figures, she cannot stop seeing Shadow Weaver's eyes and Shadow Weaver's cold, dark contempt in every confrontation between children and those who raised them. When George approaches his son, Catra is, impossibly, more frightened and worried than Bow is, almost ready to fight back should George hurt his son.

But... just as Angella had proven to be more than just Shadow Weaver in an angel's costume, so too do Bow's dads prove to be better men than Catra's fears and Bow's worries. George's hug is a relief so sweet that tears sting Catra's eyes- though she rubs them away before anyone can see. She doesn't like crying in front of strangers, even happy tears, which are the best kind. Glimmer cries openly, though, and Catra puts a hand on her shoulder, plays the role of the cool older sister, and more successfully than she had with Frosta.

When George offers to let them join in, Catra does so with a smile.

( They are good men. People make mistakes raising children, be they good or bad, that much is clear to Catra now, but there is a difference between genuine mistake and ill-intent, and there is no ill intent in either Lance or George.)

The two men even solve the mystery for them; put together what the words mean. A star chart... and a location.

The Crimson Waste.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm late... but Season 4 revived me. I feel ready to... proceed with this fic, knowing what I now know of canon.
> 
> Let us... BEGIN.
> 
> There will be two more fics following. She-Ra of the Princess Alliance will be the third fic, and I'm working on it as we speak; then a Season 4 fic, at the moment tentatively titled Catra of Etheria. I almost named it Adora of the Horde... but we'll see.


End file.
